


The Importance of Emphasis

by HyperKid



Series: Modern AU [6]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: AND THEY WERE (all) ROOMMATES, College AU, Crack, Fluff, Humour, Other, cannot possibly have a quiet night, early morning bullshit, the Beau and Molly Show, they/them Mollymauk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26336668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperKid/pseuds/HyperKid
Summary: Molly has to practice their emphasis and elocution for a drama class. Beau decides to help. What could possibly go wrong at 4am on a Sunday?
Relationships: Background PolyNein, Beau & Molly - Relationship, Molly & Yasha - Relationship
Series: Modern AU [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545967
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	The Importance of Emphasis

**Author's Note:**

> HK: Look. I’ve seen a lot of those “change the emphasis on a word and change the sentence” games.   
> Mollymauk: Well used to them?   
> HK: Not the ones with swearing, but I’m a fan!   
> Mollymauk: I think I am too.   
> HK: I’m gonna blame this entirely on it being stupid o’clock in the morning like I’m not usually up at this hour.   
> Mollymauk: It’s thematically appropriate, really.   
> HK: It all just came to me in a rush and then I had to connect the pieces. 
> 
> WARNINGS!! Swearing? 
> 
> Disclaimer: I still don’t own anything and don’t make any money having this good good time

It was a Sunday just like any other in the Nein’s sprawling Nicodrani house; rent with yelling in the small hours of the morning. 

“~I~ never said I fucked your mother!” 

It was more the volume of the shout than the content that opened doors on the second floor, various tousled heads poking out. Definitely Molly’s voice, which made it not remotely surprising when Beau’s bellowed back. 

“I NEVER said I fucked your mother!” 

Caleb caught Fjord’s eye from down the hall and the half orc shrugged. No idea what was going on. 

It wasn’t like Molly had a mother, if nothing else. 

“I never SAID I fucked your mother!” The tiefling screamed back, happy as anything. 

The final door creaked open and a dishevelled green head poked out. 

“I’LL FUCK BOTH YOUR MOTHERS IF YOU DON’T SHUT UP!” Nott roared down the hall. 

There was a moment of silence, broken almost immediately as the downstairs dissolved into laughter. Three voices. Explained why Jester wasn’t upstairs looking sleepy and confused. 

Grumbling to herself, Nott slammed her door and slouched to the stairs, rubbing sleep from her eyes. As usual, she was beginning the hangover from Saturday night’s drinking and not in the best mood. 

Caleb hurried to follow, to keep the peace, make her coffee, or just watch the ensuing chaos? Dealer’s choice really. Fjord considered just going back to bed and holding his pillow over his face until he passed out. 

Not with the three downstairs all cackling diabolically. Well, if he was up, he may as well be caffeinated. And not miss the show. 

He made it downstairs on Caleb’s heels, just as Nott slammed through the doorway to the sitting room. All three of their large couches was inhabited by a laughing housemate, Molly, Jester, and Beau all still wracked with helpless laughter. Not even the sight of their goblin friend glowering down at them helped. 

“What the hell are you all screeching about at this ungodly hour?” She groused, arms folded as she glowered at the three. 

Beau took one look at her and fell off her sofa laughing. Neither tiefling was doing much better as Jester raised a shaking hand to wipe tears from her eyes, but Nott trained her glare on them anyway. 

“Well!” She demanded sharply, food tapping. “Some of us are trying to sleep!” 

“Sorry!” Jester wheezed, arms wrapped around her waist as she sucked in air. “We... we were...” 

“Making a fucking racket!” Nott snapped and set all three giggling again. Even Caleb couldn’t quite hide a smile. 

“Shall I make coffee for everyone?” He asked quietly, trying not to draw Nott’s ire to himself. As if it ever stayed fixed on him in the first place. 

She gave him a sharp look which quickly softened when she saw his obvious bedhead. That it might have been from yesterday or the day before didn’t really matter. Instead she patted him gently on the arm. 

“You go back to bed Caleb, we’re all going to be QUIET now!” Immediately belied by the way she yelled the last words, which did absolutely nothing to help Molly regain coherence. 

They was slumped low on his sofa now, almost flat on their back as he gasped for breath. 

Fighting a grin, Fjord gently touched Caleb’s elbow. 

“Don’t know that they need more caffeine. How about we make everyone a herbal tea?” 

“With lavender!” Jester called, her giggles slowly beginning to abate. Beau immediately made a face. 

“None of that shit!” She argued and Jester flopped back over. 

Fjord waved to the room at large, turning to the open doorway through to the kitchen. 

“Yeah, yeah, sleepytime vanilla for Beau. Chamomile okay Molly?” 

Molly didn’t bother with a verbal answer, just flailing a hand in their general direction. It was probably a yes. Following Fjord through, Caleb gathered up a line of mugs and set them by the kettle. Both moved far enough that they could see across the low partition to keep watching the drama. 

Annoyed by not getting answers, Nott strode across the room to give Beau a kick in the ribs. Prone on the ground, the monk wasn’t putting up much resistance. 

“Hey! You bastards woke me up and now you’ve got to face the consequences!” 

Not taking his eyes from the spectacle, Caleb leaned towards Fjord. 

“Already thinking of putting sleeping pills in their tea?” He asked quietly. Fjord snickered softly. 

“I would, but Jester’d just Restore herself from spite and they don’t work on Beau. And I’m pretty sure Molly’s tried everything under the sun enough to build a tolerance.” 

Caleb hummed a soft agreement, fighting a snicker and stifling himself quickly as Jester managed to haul herself into a sitting position. 

“We were running lines,” she gasped, propping herself up with half the pillows until she was practically sat in a nest, “Molly had some speech things for drama class and one of them was like, how things change based on what word you emphasize!” 

“And your phrase was “I never said I fucked your mother”?” Fjord asked with a snicker, and raised both hands in instant surrender when Nott turned a glare on him. 

“Not initially,” Molly admitted, now lounging comfortably across their couch, ankles draped off the arm rest. How they always managed to look so damn elegant was a mystery to Caleb, who was perfectly sure he would look an ungainly mess doing the exact same thing. Craning their neck, Molly looked across to Jester. “What did we start with?” 

“I think it was “I’m happy because I’m with you”? But neither of you could say it with a straight face,” she added with a snicker. 

Caleb rolled his eyes, fighting a grin and already knowing the answer before he asked the question. 

“But you couldn’t just run lines with them?” He asked fondly. No one had any trouble saying they were happy to be around Jester; she worked hard to ensure it. 

Almost as hard as she worked at causing chaos. 

She gave him a knowing grin and waved her tablet cheerfully at him. 

“I was busy looking up alternatives for them!” It wasn’t exactly a defence, but none of them had expected one from her anyway. 

Nott rolled her eyes at the lot of them, doing her best not to grin. Marginally succeeding too, which put her in the lead in the pretending-to-be-mad sweepstakes. She probably had a headache lending credence. 

“And of course you picked that one,” she huffed, giving Molly and Beau disparaging looks. “That doesn’t even make sense.” 

“We were counting Yasha as my mom,” Molly snickered. 

“Then I’m telling you to take out the garbage.” 

Fjord dropped the kettle as the whole room jumped, Molly finally tipping off their couch as they flailed around enough to see Yasha grinning at them all from the door. She must have just got in, her fur lined jacket still in hand as she kicked the door closed behind her. 

Molly recovered fastest, sticking their tongue out at her. 

“I’m two, I can’t have chores!” They insisted smugly, shoving themself up on the floor. Beau rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at them. 

“If you’re old enough to buy your own condoms, you’re old enough for chores.” 

Jester fell into giggles again as Molly pouted, utterly unable to refute that. Nott was losing the fight with her grin now, glancing around at Yasha. 

“If you’re their mother, make them shut up and go to bed,” she demanded firmly. Yasha glanced down at her, then back to Molly, raising a brow. 

Molly rolled onto their stomach and huffed. 

“Fjord’s making me tea,” they whined and Yasha looked around to the kitchen. There’d been enough water left for Fjord to get the first four teas on, Caleb just finished mopping up the spilled water. Fjord raised Molly’s bedecked carnival mug. 

“Two minutes to steep,” he confirmed, setting the timer for Jester and Beau’s teas. Molly gave Yasha their most dazzling, smuggest smile, and regretted it almost immediately. 

“Bring it upstairs then,” Yasha decided, hanging up her coat and striding into the sitting room to scoop Molly from the floor, hauling them over her shoulder. 

Having years of experience, they knew there was no real point in struggling. Almost more experience than they had in anything, honestly. Instead they set to pinching Yasha’s butt as she carried them upstairs. 

“You’ve gotta work on your toning, Yasha, I can almost get a proper grip on these cheeks.” 

Everyone in the sitting room heard the slap as Yasha gave Molly a sharp smack on the ass and Beau groaned. 

“Think she’d carry me to bed?” She asked somewhat wistfully, gazing at the wall between her and the stairs. 

“Probably not how you’d like,” Jester snickered, pushing herself up and stretching. “I guess I can go to bed too. Coming, Beau?” 

Fjord waved back to the counter where their mugs rested, already on his way up with Molly’s. 

“They’ll be done in another minute or two. Drink them upstairs and bring the mugs back in the morning.” 

Things seemed to be winding down again, so Caleb didn’t bother reboiling the kettle for his or Nott’s drinks. Not if they were going to be able to get straight back into the bed. Ducking past Jester on her way into the kitchen, he made his way over to the goblin and gave her a gentle nudge. 

“Ready to try again?” He asked softly. 

Nott hesitated a moment, watching Jester hauling Beau to her feet with two mugs held precariously by her tail. Visibly decided fuck it, it was their problem, not hers. 

“Yeah. Just keep it down the rest of the night, okay?” She raised her voice, addressing the warning across the whole house as they made their way to the stairs. 

Behind them Beau called something that was probably an agreement, scooping a leftover pile of papers under the coffee table and out of the way before heading to bed. Monday was technically a school day, but most of the Nein didn’t have anything like early morning classes. 

For the best really, since weekend nights without fail held some kind of disruption. If they weren’t out late on some kind of job, Nott was drinking, Beau and Molly were causing havoc, Jester was plotting everyones’ downfall. Caleb would have happily said the men of the house were the quiet ones, if they hadn’t spent Saturday night talking Fjord out of climbing through his window as an alternative to the stairs. 

The Mighty Nein didn’t do quiet well in general. Not as a group, not as individuals. Even Caleb found he much preferred the noise and bustle of a full house around him. 

Even at four in the morning on a Sunday. 

**Author's Note:**

> HK: And now I’m gonna make like Yasha and drag my own ass to bed. Night all!


End file.
